Japanese Kakuya Kuroda mixes jazz with synthetic soul sounds on this funky mix of originals. He teams up with guests Corey King/tb, Rashaan Carter/b, Adam Jackson/dr and Takeshi Ohbayashi/key, and together the veer between hip hoppy sounds like “Do They Know” to Stevie Wonder inspired material. Of the latter, the peppy horn setion and keyboards make “ R.S. B.D” a delight and the bass line for “Thirteen” is a Motown beaut. Kuroda’s horn has a sweet tone, shown best on the warm “Little Words” and he even gets a bit of Maynard Ferguson in his chops during “Good Day Bad Habit.” There’s a predominance of electro grooves, as the samples are in abundance on ”No Sign” and “I Don’t Remember How It Began” but the feel is more Tower of Power than rap. Peppy and punchy.
Concord Records